Shafaq News- Baghdad

Prime Minister-designate Ali Al-Zaidi’s ministerial program came under criticism on Friday from Iraqi watchdog groups over the absence of environmental policies and heavy reliance on the country’s 2020 economic reform “White Paper.”

Al-Zaidi submitted the 14-point government program to Parliament Speaker Haibet Al-Halbousi on May 7 ahead of a planned parliamentary confidence vote next week. However, Eco Iraq Observatory said more than 70% of the economic framework outlined in the program was based on ideas and proposals contained in the White Paper introduced under former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi in 2020.

Several sections appeared directly inspired by the earlier reform document, the Observatory said, citing similarities in areas including digital transformation, electronic signatures, private sector support, banking reform, and smart networks. It also argued that the program failed to provide clear mechanisms for reducing Iraq’s rentier economy or addressing public-sector overemployment, which continues to place mounting pressure on the state budget.

The group further criticized the absence of detailed measures to tackle budget deficits or shield Iraq’s economy from oil price volatility and declining exports.

Launched during Al-Kadhimi’s administration in October 2020, the White Paper proposed more than 200 reforms aimed at restructuring Iraq’s oil-dependent economy, strengthening the private sector, and reforming public finances following the fiscal crisis triggered by collapsing oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the proposals, however, stalled amid political opposition and institutional challenges.

Separate criticism came from Iraq’s Green Observatory, which accused Al-Zaidi’s program of omitting a dedicated environmental policy despite worsening drought, water shortages, and desertification.

Although the program focused on issues including national security, foreign policy, economic reform, energy, agriculture, and tourism, it did not include a standalone environmental or climate section. “The person who prepared the program appears unaware that Iraq is among the countries most harmed by climate change over recent years,” the Observatory said, warning that rising temperatures, drought, and desertification had deepened the country’s environmental crisis.

The group pointed to drinking water shortages in southern provinces, rising salinity in Basra, the drying of the southern marshes, and the loss of agricultural land, noting that the program referenced water issues only once through a pledge to strengthen political and economic ties with upstream countries.

According to the United Nations, flows from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which supply up to 98% of Iraq’s surface water, have declined by 30-40% over the past four decades, increasing pressure on agriculture, drinking water supplies, and livelihoods across the country. Declining river levels and repeated drought cycles have also severely affected the UNESCO-listed Mesopotamian marshes in southern Iraq, forcing many residents to abandon livelihoods tied to fishing and buffalo breeding.

Read more: Iraq’s water crisis deepens: Reserves collapse, mismanagement continues